Oxnard police say month-old shooting deaths are homicide-suicide

An Oxnard man shot and killed his girlfriend before shooting himself in a car last month, authorities have determined.

Oxnard police worked with the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office to verify that the incident was a homicide-suicide. What happened was not immediately clear, and investigators looked into the possibility of a double homicide because the gun was not found at the scene, Sgt. Christopher Williams said. It was later determined that someone took the gun from the scene of the shootings.

Juan Ruiz Benitez, 39, and Guadalupe Gutierrez, 54, were found shot to death in a car in the 600 block of South D Street on May 4.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Benitez shot and killed Gutierrez as she sat in her vehicle, which was parked a few houses away. Benitez then fatally shot himself, police said.

Gutierrez was found in the driver’s seat, and Benitez was partially inside the vehicle and partially outside, Williams said.

Police don’t know how long the victims had been in the vehicle, but a preliminary investigation found they were shot between midnight and 12:30 a.m. and that the bodies were reported to police about 7:35 a.m.

What led to the shooting is unknown, and police have not determined a motive because Benitez did not leave a suicide note, Williams said.

Police hadn’t responded to the home, and the couple did not appear to have previous domestic issues.

Gutierrez lived with Benitez, but whether she lived there part time or full time was unclear, Williams said.

The gun was taken from the scene, and when police contacted the person who took it, he said he had sold it, Williams said.

“We do have a good idea where it’s at, and we are attempting to recover it currently,” he said.

The person who took the gun has not been charged with a crime, Williams said.

Benitez and Gutierrez died of gunshot wounds to the head, said Armando Chavez, a senior deputy Ventura County medical examiner.

He added that though the causes of death were immediately clear, the Medical Examiner’s Office had to wait for detectives to complete their investigation before making official determinations.

“Their footwork is what gave us the information we needed for the manners of death,” Chavez said.